Animal Grace: Entering a Spiritual Relationship with Our Fellow Creatures [Hardcover]

Mary Lou Randour (Author), Susan Chernak McElroy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2000

It was only after exploring feminist theology, Jewish mysticism, and Buddhism that author Mary Lou Randour experienced transformation - through understanding and feeling responsible for other species. In this book, she urges readers to make two basic commitments: to expand their awareness of animals and to take compassionate action on behalf of animals.

As well as a call to action, this is also a book of stories about how four-legged beasts, domestic and wild, have helped people heal from illness, cope with death, and learn to love. Randour devotes several chapters to how the world's religions approach human relationships with animals, and she offers comprehensive directions on how to enter and deepen reciprocal relationships with other species.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Animal Grace is an outstanding contribution to a new genre of literature that boldly asserts the profound spiritual connection many humans feel toward animals. When author Mary Lou Randour began sending money to animals-rights groups a new world opened up for her. Envelopes filled with "heart-stopping, stomach-wrenching" images started appearing in her mailbox--beaten dogs, abused laboratory animals. Finally she read Peter Singer's book Animal Liberation and began to recognize the deep kinship and responsibility she felt toward animals. Since then Randour has devoted her life to animal advocacy, and from walking this path she has come to an understanding of spiritual grace.

Randour uses her journalism skills to recount stories of wild and tame animals--how they have helped to heal human illnesses, turn child criminals into loving adults, and comforted us in times of grief. Yet Randour is more than a convincing researcher, vegetarian, and storyteller, she is also a spiritually mature writer. Each chapter supports the overriding theme of respecting interspecies connections--such as "Entering into a Spiritual Relationship with Animals," "Animals' Souls and Spiritual Lives," and "The Parallel Worlds of Human and Nonhuman Animals." This could well be the next animal-rights manifesto. --Gail Hudson

From Library Journal

Following close on the heels of Linzey's Animal Gospel (LJ 1/00), psychologist and activist Randour's book moves beyond theological and moral assertions of the worth of animals to show how animals can help us heal from illnesses, learn to love, and deal with death itself. Randour's method is more narrative and anecdotal than advisory, but her ardor should be persuasive to many readers.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: New World Library (March 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1577311043
• ISBN-13: 978-1577311041
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,822,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gracefulness of Animal Relations, February 22, 2000

By 

ryan madden (Fairfax, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Animal Grace: Entering a Spiritual Relationship with Our Fellow Creatures (Hardcover)

Mary Lou Randour, Ph.D, and her book advocating the healing relationship of animals, in the engaged Buddhist vein, is a hopeful book for the betterment of people and for animals. Mary Lou, director of programs, for PsyETA (The Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is as connected to the animal kingdom as Brother Wayne Teasdale is to the spiritual. For animal lovers, this is a book that has long been dreamed, and will be an excellent read for cross referencing with the literature on animals, ecology, nature writing, and political advocacy groups. This is a must read for those who want to contribute with passion and compassion. I highly recommend Animal Grace.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Healing Bond, March 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Animal Grace: Entering a Spiritual Relationship with Our Fellow Creatures (Hardcover)

The author of Animal Grace has integrated the expertise of the psychologist with the insights of a spiritual pilgrim. The result is a book that touches the heart with its stories of human and animal relationships: relationships that have brought about emotional and spiritual healing. In descriing the reciprocal nature of these relationships, Randour avoids the chauvinism that so often treats animals as objects to be added to a person's life--as if they were some kind of extra-medicinal cure for stress, loneliness, or lack of purpose. Although the author shows that such problems can be resolved by a meaningful relationship with animals, she emphasizes that just as a meaningful bond with other humans must incorporate compassion, service, and awareness of the needs of the other person, a healing bond with animals must also be characterized by these qualities.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Animal Grace: A passionate and practical book, March 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Animal Grace: Entering a Spiritual Relationship with Our Fellow Creatures (Hardcover)

As a practicing Buddhist, I was thrilled to find "Animal Grace." I look for books that combine practical spiritual advice that I can follow on an everyday basis with an in-depth and comprehensive spiritual understanding. "Animal Grace" does that in spades. This is a passionate and insightful book that moved me greatly. Mary Lou Randour invites us with skillful storytelling into the lives of animals and shows us how we can rediscover neglected parts of ourselves there. Then she gently moves us to realize that we don't have to be afraid of encountering suffering. As Joanna Macy, a Buddhist writer said about "Animal Grace," "(it shows)how shared pain can open us to live more responsibly and more joyously." I recommend this touching and compelling book most highly.